Jessica Espinoza

CEO at 2X Global

Panellist

Jessica Espinoza is CEO of 2X Global, a global industry body for gender lens investing convening the entire spectrum of capital providers. She is also Chair of the 2X Challenge that has raised more than US$ 34 billion of gender lens investments since its launch at the G7 Summit in 2018. Jessica has a track record in originating, structuring and executing debt, mezzanine and equity deals in emerging and frontier markets with a strong focus on inclusive innovation. The latest innovation she is spearheading with 2X colleagues is 2X Ignite, a bold facility to unlock capital for gender-smart business at scale by backing women-led fund managers.

Jessica serves on the Board of Directors of AlphaMundi Foundation and previously of the Mexican financial institution Mega as well as the Advisory Board of several private equity funds. As a mentor for Endeavor, she supports high impact companies as they scale up. Jessica is the Founder of Xoco, an inclusive edtech venture and a fellow at Columbia eLab. Jessica was selected for the Leaders Europe 2022 program of the Obama Foundation and awarded the Digital Female Leadership Award of Global Digital Women 2019.

Prior to her current role, Jessica was Vice President for Private Equity & Venture Capital Investments at DEG/KfW. She was also a Member of the Management Board at ProCredit Bank Nicaragua responsible for the Business Clients Division and managed the Africa Regional Office of MicroFinance Transparency.

Jessica holds a double degree in International Business Management from ESB Business School and Dublin City University. She is a PhD candidate at University of Siegen, researching the transformative potential of gender lens investing under the supervision of Prof. Friederike Dr. Welter.